The Story of the Flashlight
The thing about an adventure is that you never know where it will take you . . .
My Word of 2025 was Adventure. When I chose the word in December 2024 - after meeting the goal of accreditation for ministry with The Christian & Missionary Alliance - I figured my adventure would be moving; leaving Sheridan after more than nine years, and beginning life in a new location, in my dream job on staff at a church. My adventure was NOTHING like that. It has been more of an adventure that I could have guessed!
My favorite place to take a long walk is PK Lane outside of Sheridan, Wyoming, which I fondly refer to as, “My Lonely Lane.” I walk out towards the Bighorn Mountains in the beautiful stillness until I decide to pause, sit and stare at the mountains, while talking and listening to God. Something about walking towards the mountains surrounded by silence is incredibly therapeutic. I find the return to my vehicle leaves me lighter in spirit; unburdened.
One day in March 2025 as I walked My Lonely Lane, I found a small flashlight about the size of a large marking pen, along the path. It survived a winter of cold temperatures and plenty of snow. I surmise it was dropped by a fire worker from the Elk Fire in October 2024. It was worn, but still worked! Other than discovering a working flashlight in an unexpected place, I didn’t think much about it until a friend and I prayed together a few days later. She prayed Psalm 119:15, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Then I recalled the flashlight and shared my story with her. She said to me, “You literally found a light on your path!” The longer I reflected on this, the more significant my find became.
Once I was accredited for ministry with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, I began exploring options for positions at churches within the denomination. My dream job includes leading the worship and discipleship ministries at a church. In January of last year a job possibility was presented to me which seemed God’s leading. By early March it was no longer a possibility. I was walking My Lonely Lane that day to process my disappointment, confusion, and the uncertainty of my future. Finding that flashlight was God’s sign to me that he has a light for my path, illuminating one step at a time.
Drat it all, I would rather have a spotlight highlighting the final step! It would be lovely to see the path, and see my destination. Psalm 119:15 states that His Word is a light for our path. When the Psalm was composed, the lamps they had merely illuminated where to place their foot next. They were simple lights. Like all those thousands of years ago, God continues to reveal for us one step at a time. Walking with God encourages patient trust of His Plan. Proverbs 3:5 instructs us to, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Because I’m shown one step at a time and not the spotlight on the result, I cannot know what the fifth step from now will be. Instead I must choose to trust His Leading. He sees my future and knows what step is necessary for me.
After the disappointment of last March, learning there would be a major cut in my hours as Church Administrator come May, and much prayer, I decided to quit my job in May 2025. One Sunday within that timeframe we sang “Come Tear Down the Walls” as part of worship. As we sang it, I asked God what Wall he needed to tear down for me. I felt in my spirit he answered, “Comfort.” I asked him to do so. In that moment, and even the next couple of weeks, it didn’t occur to me he was answering. When we ask God to work on us and within us, he answers!
I packed up my apartment of nearly 8 years, and for two months, the bunnies and I went on a road trip around the US, including a flight to Quebec (without the bunnies). The full trip was a wonderful time visiting friends and family. From late June 2025 until March of this year, I was back in Sheridan awaiting God to highlight my next step, hoping for my dream job. Instead, the steps God directed me to included a nanny job, a job filling online orders at a grocery store, then a second nanny job for infant twins. Additionally it has been moving twice, and moving all my furniture and belongings from paid into free storage.
At some point late summer, I realized God was tearing down the Wall of Comfort in my life. There are few things more uncomfortable than not knowing what is next. In February of this year, I found myself considering a temporary move to Salt Lake City with the family for whom I’ve nannied since last July. Because all my belongings were packed, and I was listening for God to say, “Now, Alisa!” I was so very confident of His Leading and illuminating the next step that I made the move.
It has been another item on my list of Uncomfortable Things; God continues to make dents in my Wall of Comfort. Cities are an uncomfortable place for me. There are so many people and so much traffic that the basic tasks of life feel complicated compared to a small town. Not to mention moving in general is quite disorienting. However, I am convinced that this time in Salt Lake City is not about me being comfortable and knowing the future, but fulfilling God’s purpose in me and through me. Perhaps it will be three more months here, perhaps six. My aim is to make the most of this time; to be faithful no matter the length of waiting. One passage of scripture that God has used over the past couple of years, is from Isaiah 30:
He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”
This passage highlights for me the concept of listening for God’s leading for my next step, as well as that of rejecting my idol of Comfort. I doubt I will ever be okay completely rejecting Comfort. Afterall, I believe it is natural to desire comfort. I don’t think it is “bad” to not want to be uncomfortable. But surrendering our will to God’s Will and living for Christ is just not a comfortable life. Christ lived an uncomfortable life. I want “to know Christ and him crucified,” and that is not accomplished through a life of pure comfort (1 Cor. 2:2), but by listening for the voice of My Teacher to say, “This is the way,” when I turn to the right or the left. This my friends, is the Ultimate Adventure on this side of heaven!
